The news comes at a critical time in Tokyo, where officials are weighing whether to lift restrictions on American beef imposed after previous such scares.

Japan was once the biggest cash cow for the American cattle industry. At its peak in 2001, Japan accounted for 47% of the $3.4 billion U.S. beef export market. That year, America’s biggest beef buyer took in 1.1 billion pounds valued at $1.6 billion, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation. That was before the first outbreak of mad-cow disease in the U.S. in 2003. At that point, Japan banned U.S.- bred cattle.

The door reopened slightly two years later when Japan decided to allow imports of cattle aged 20 months or younger after research showed older animals may be more prone to contracting the illness, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy. This has softened the pain, but sales levels remain far below its pre-BSE days.

U.S. beef exports to Japan reached 349.8 million pounds valued at $874.4 million in 2011. While that marked a 37% jump in value compared to the previous year, it was still roughly half of the peak a decade earlier.

In recent months, Japan has been deliberating further easing import restrictions. The decision comes amid years of prodding from the U.S, a government study showing most BSE cases were found in cattle older than 30 months, as well as a drop in domestic beef production following a rash of radiation food scares following the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The Japanese Food Safety Commission started to discuss whether to raise the age ceiling on U.S. cattle to 30 months last December.

The revision could help immensely: “There is still about 45% room for growth,” Susumu Harada, Tokyo spokesman for the U.S. Meat Export Federation, told JRT. Mr. Harada said he thinks the recent revelation will not alter the discussion because the case is an “atypical” one.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said Tuesday that the mad-cow disease found in the cow that tested positive was a rare type that could mean other cows that shared the sick animal’s feed would not necessarily get infected, which is the most common way the disease spreads in herds. The USDA also said that human health was not at risk and that no meat from the animal entered the food supply. This is the fourth detected case in the U.S. since 2003.

After the FSC wraps up its discussion, its recommendation will be considered by by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. The timeline is unclear.

A Health Ministry spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Chief government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said Tokyo “did not expect any impact (on deregulation discussions) from this” at a daily briefing Wednesday morning. He said because the infected cow was over 30 months old there is no need to take further steps on U.S. beef for now. The information will be passed onto the FSC.

Japan’s participation in the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact is one of the hot button issues to be raised when Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda goes to the U.S. next week, his first trip there since taking office last August. One of the items on the trade menu to be discussed is beef.

Comments (4 of 4)

On 3 July 2012, I sas told by an US Customs Official at the San Francisco Airport, who confiscated my Beef Tongue Jerky purchased in Japan, that Japan has BSE and that even dried beef was a threat to our cattle industry.

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